Dark Spark
by Shadow Zee
Summary: Jade Bryant is captured by Megatron and Starscream to prove a point to the Autobots-Decepticons would always win in the end. But despite the situation, the 19-year-old still manages to find a light in a dark place. Bay-verse. OC.
1. Cowards Are the Most Dangerous

Okie dokie! This is my first ever Transformers (Bay-verse) fanfiction that I've ever done, although I write a lot of random TF drabble. Anyway, I've been thinking of writing this for a while now and was inspired to follow through and actually create something out of the random stuff I already have typed up. Thanks McRiggs for beating me upside the brain with the fanfic-writing stick! Hopefully, it pays off! So enjoy.

DISCLAIMER: As terrible as it is, I DO NOT own Transformers. I know, it's sad, but it's the truth. Don't sue me, please...

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><p>Chapter One – <em>Cowards are the Most Dangerous<em>

"Not to call you a coward, Master, but sometimes, cowards do survive." The scratchy-voiced Seeker took the initial step back in retreat, igniting his back jet boosters in preparation for flight. Their intense heat turned the sand below into glass.

Megatron, his face still sparking from where part of it had been blown off by the leader of the Autobots, growled deeply. "This isn't over," he said, eyeing the humans and Autobots as they mingled gratefully down beyond the Egyptian ruins. His attention focused on a human female who was slowly making her way down a sand dune towards Sam Witwicky and the NEST officers ahead. She had two short Autobots flanking her—one bright green, the other fluorescent orange. "We will not leave empty-handed, Starscream."

The winged Decepticon blinked and his booster went quiet.

"Retrieve that filthy insect making its way towards the others."

Starscream gulped and pleaded, "But my Lord, it is too dangerous with Prime back on his feet. Perhaps another time would be—" A cold metal hand connected with the Seeker's grey cheek. He yelped and stumbled back, clutching it painfully.

The massive mech that was Megatron reached towards Starscream, aggressively grabbing his throat and tightening his grip. He thoroughly enjoyed his Air Commander's gargles, but his patience was thin. "Prime is still weak. If you do not grab the human, you will suffer a fate far worse than any Autobot could give you."

Red eyes wide with terror, Starscream fought under his master's hand. When he was finally released, he rubbed his throat pitifully and assumed a submissive stature. "As you wish, Lord Megatron," he said obediently before firing up his boosters for a second time and disappearing into the sky. Slag it, he hated being shoved around by Megatron. But it was either the human named Jadeance, friend of Sam Witwicky, or the Seeker's own hide. A tremor shook his Spark at the mere thought. One didn't need a colorful imagination to visualize what Megatron was capable of.

Spotting the girl below was simple enough. Her trek over the Egyptian sands was fairly ungraceful, and that was being kind, which Starscream was not. He was embarrassed enough to be on the same planet as the humans, but watching this ridiculous creature stumble and weave across the ground like a malfunctioning 'bot was torture. And Megatron wanted _this_ one to be his prisoner?

Starscream sighed as he made his descent back down to Earth. He wasn't concerned about the two hapless Autobots around Jadeance. He'd make short work of them with a simple flick. It was Optimus that the Seeker feared. Despite the large Autobot being weakened, the mech was still able to blow the Fallen into the ether, as well as half of Megatron's face. Starscream did not wish the same fate upon himself. However, the human's pace was slow, like she had assumed the battle had been won and had very little now to fear.

How wrong you are, mused Starscream.

As expected, the Autobots became aware of his presence as he neared the ground. Before he touched down, the Seeker unleashed a powerful barrage of missiles at the NEST officers and Autobots ahead of him. The sound of yelling and screams was music to his ears, especially when the screaming was so very close his position as he landed.

Just as promised, the Autoscum twins—Mudflap and Skids—were eliminated quickly and efficiently. Starscream didn't bother wasting missiles on them; he cut them down with a mere spin of the rotating blade that transformed out of his right hand. He laughed as his bird-like foot came down upon the orange one's head after the green one's Spark had been cut out. Blue Energon pooled around the bodies while the screaming had suddenly stopped. Much to Starscream's disappointment, the human he was after had taken advantage of his distraction with the twins and was disappearing down the dune, with much more grace this time.

The Seeker snarled and sent a volley of cluster bombs down at the Autobots who attempted to scramble out of the way, giving Starscream just enough time to snatch the girl.

Jade focused on her speed and balance, taking care to not trip and recovering quickly when she did. Up headed, just a couple hundred meters away, she spotted Sideswipe. He was trying to make his way over to her, shouting her name in the process, but the cluster bombs sent off by Starscream were preventing him from doing so.

One bomb went off a little too close to the nineteen-year-old. Its shockwave caused her to loose her footing on the hot sand. She tumbled and was sent sprawling on the ground, allowing sand into every little crevasse in her clothes and face. Jade sputtered when the tiny grain entered her mouth and tickled her throat. The sudden approach of speeding footsteps scared her into getting back up on her feet, but before she could run any farther, large metallic fingers wrapped themselves around her midsection. Jade attempted to scream, but her breath was literally squeezed right out of her. The only sound she emitted was a faint wheeze.

"Jade!"

Sam's voice was faint in the battle taking place, but Jade swore she heard it. Perhaps, however, she was imagining it as consciousness began to fade from lack of oxygen. When she heard it a second time, her eyes searched the clouds of sand erupting all around her. She attempted to pick out more voices from the thunderous booms of explosions, but her brain was being overloaded with a hundred other stimuli—the tightening grip around her abdomen, the searing pain in her chest as a rib cracked beneath Starscream's fingers, the sand choking her airways, the _ratatatat_ of gunfire, the sweat dripping down her forehead.

Jade clawed viciously and uselessly at the massive hand around her. Tried to find any sign that someone, anyone, was about to rescue her from Starscream's deadly clutches.

But there was no one coming. They'd try of course, but Starscream would be gone by the time the dust settled. He'd have already transformed with Jade now in his cockpit and flown off with Megatron to an undisclosed location, leaving Optimus Prime and the others to fear for a friend.


	2. Only Imagine

Well hopefully the first chapter wasn't an epic fail and very soon, I'll be putting up a bit of backstory to Jade. I don't like to write stuff in chronological order. That's just me. ONWARDS TO CH 2!

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><p>Chapter Two – Only Imagine<p>

"I hope you enjoyed your _flight_," sneered the giant alien Decepticon as he nudged the little human prisoner into her "cell" rather harshly with his foot.

Jade landed on the floor with a _thud_ and cringed as lightning pain shot up her side. She clutched it carefully as she drew herself to her knees, too afraid to look at the cruel Decepticon behind her. Tremors shook her slight frame as she quivered with fearfulness. She tensed as Starscream cackled.

He was enjoying the puny insect's terror.

The ride to the obviously abandoned hangar in the Nevada desert was long, boring and unpleasant. Long because it took fifteen hours to get there from Egypt at supersonic speed. Boring because there was nothing to do during that time but sit quietly, think and stare at the tinted cockpit cover that revealed nothing about where they were going—exactly what Starscream wanted. And unpleasant because there were no bathroom pit stops along the way and the speeds they were traveling at kept Jade's head aching and dizzy. When they finally landed, Jade could barely stand from the vertigo.

Now she was stuck in a hellhole out in the desert with two of the worse Decepticons on the planet with nothing but the clothes on her back and a corner to piss in. The bay was massive, but had few windows. Most were fifty feet up near the ceiling—the rest in the ceiling itself—and let in little light through the dusty glass panes. All in all, Jade's luck was nonexistent.

"Starscream!" shouted a terrible voice that caused both human and Seeker to jump. The latter squealed nervously.

Megatron appeared beside his lieutenant and place a clawed hand upon his shoulder. With a sickening grin, he asked, "Is our new pet making herself comfortable?"

Laughing nervously and with sarcastic words, Starscream replied, "Of course, Lord Megatron. As the humans might say, as comfortable as a mouse in a wolf's den."

The Decepticon leader grunted and rolled his eyes at his imbecile Air Commander. He removed his hand from the Seeker's shoulder and was not hesitant to smack him on the back of the head.

The human girl carefully eyed the two behind her before getting onto her feet and turning to face them. She then said, "It's 'lion's den'."

Starscream growled. "What did you say to me, fool?"

"I said, it's '_lion's den_'. Not 'wolf's den'. As comfortable as a mouse in a _lion's_ den. If you're going to insult human phrases, then at least say them correctly." Jade's heart thumped loudly in her chest. She really hadn't meant to sound so gruff to the Decepticon, as much as he deserved to be talked back to. Still, she wasn't in the mood to be blown apart by the touchy Seeker. Damn her sarcastic mouth.

Much to Jade's surprise, however, Megatron laughed at the correction made to Starscream. "Feisty," he said. "A good quality to have as my prisoner, human. It will make my job a bit more fun."

Jade's bones shook from the way the Decepticon said the word _fun_. From the sounds of it, the fun would be one-sided.

"Come Starscream," said Megatron coolly. "Lets give the human time to imagine what we have in store for her." Then the two Decepticons vanished behind the massive metal door of the hangar, leaving Jade alone with her thoughts.

They weren't nice ones. As the blue-eyed human Autobot wandered over to sit at a gritty corner at the far end of the bay, she wondered about her friends. There was no doubt they were searching for her, but it were the chances of them finding her that brought a deep frown to her face.

Starscream and Megatron were clever. They would have surely blocked their signals from the Autobots the moment they left the ground back in Egypt. There was also the question of how they'd even begin to follow the Decepticons. While Optimus Prime had Jetfire's flight tech, the former was still too weak to utilize it continuously. Besides, the great Autobot leader had shook it off after his battle with the Fallen, after he had thought the battle was over.

But at least Optimus was alive, which was more than could be said about Skids and Mudflap, the ridiculously mouthy Autobot twins that Jade often referred to as Frick and Frack. She remembered the horrified face of Mudflap as he watched his brother die right before his cerulean eyes. The orange 'bot had fought back with surprising viciousness, but it was useless against the larger Decepticon.

Jade had been easily annoyed with the twins, but never once wished ill fate upon them. It tore her heart to think of them now, lying lifeless in the sands of the great Egyptian desert. Was that what her future was to look like? Dead in the hangar that she was currently residing in? Ripped apart by the cruel Decepticon that had done the same to Jazz several year before? No, not if she had any say in how her life was to turn out, and last time she checked, Jade's life was her own and no Decepticon slag was going to take that simple privilege away.

With a loud sigh and a flinch as her lungs expanded a bit too much against her broken rib, Jade tucked away several strands of chocolate brown hair behind her ear and out of her eyes before getting up to analyze her situation. One thing was clear to her as she wandered along the longest wall of the hangar—there was no way she was getting out unless the door was opened. Sadly, the door weighed several tons and would not be budging under the human's hands.

The windows were all terribly far out of the nineteen-year-old's reach and there was nothing to stand on that would even begin to put her closer to them. All that was in the great room was a pile of large rusted pipes, perhaps twenty feet long, from a failed attempt at restoring the place many decades ago. They were randomly placed against the longest wall, with no apparent reason now for being there.

There were no holes in the walls that Jade might squeeze through. No ventilation shafts anywhere near the ground that she could see. No tools. No electrical cords. Nothing. At the end of her search, ocean blue eyes threatened to spill tears. There was nothing there to help Jade escape and it crushed her. The thought of never seeing her friends again was something she never thought she'd have to worry about.

In an instant of uncontained anger and fear, Jade punched her left fist into the wall, sending a tiny plume of grey dust off the cement. The impact was harder than she had expected and the pain was more than she had hoped for. However, her pulsing, bleeding knuckles took the pain out of her chest for a while as she collapsed back to the ground, legs crossed in front of her. As her petite butt hit the concrete floor, a slight cracking sound alerted her to the presence of something in the back pocket of her dirty, torn blue jeans. Much to her surprise, as pleasant as it was, Jade found her cell phone. She had forgotten it was there. Her mind had been on more important matters, like being kidnapped by Decepticons and fearing for her life.

With giddiness and a little bit of hope, Jade pressed a button on the device. Nothing. She held the power button down, but was greeted with a persistent black screen. "Damnit!" she cursed loudly, not concerned about anyone hearing her. However, despite the fact that the phone didn't work—unbeknownst to Jade, it was because Starscream sent an EMP through the cockpit on the way there to destroy any signal-outputting devices—Jade was somewhat skilled in the art of fixing electronics. Not majorly so, but enough to be able to figure out a cell phone's malfunction.

She smiled to herself as she began to wonder if her luck was really as bad as she had originally thought. Her grin vanished the moment she heard metal feet against thick concrete. Hastily, she tossed her phone into one of the long pipes and then stood to await the Decepticons' arrival. Moments later, she was greeted by the familiar face of Starscream.

"Lord Megatron will you see you now," he growled cruelly and with an even crueler smile.

Jade's heart crawled into her throat and, much to her disgust, her imagination ran wild with what might come of her now.


	3. Don't Make Me Bite You

Okay, I'm gonna try to put some Jade backstory in the next chapter. I'm really trying to get this thing right! It all works wonderfully in my head, but every writer knows that's never what it comes out as in real life...

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><p>Chapter Three – Don't Make Me Bite You<p>

Jade gulped nervously and couldn't stop her legs from rattling beneath her. She prayed Starscream couldn't see her tremble, for it would only amuse him and make his day a little better. That was exactly what she _didn't_ want.

Trying to keep her head high as she fought off the inevitable fear of dying, Jade carefully made her way through the hangar bay's door and past Starscream's sharp, metal bird feet. Her shoulders tensed as he growled behind her impatiently.

"Hurry up!" he snarled, quickening Jade's pace towards the opposite end of the vast hangar. It took a couple of minutes to reach it and during that time, not a word was spoken. All that could be heard was the nervous pounding of Jade's heart and the heavy footsteps of the 'bot beside her.

There was another bay room similar to Jade's in size and shape. The only difference was that there were no windows on the walls and ceiling. The only light entering the giant room flooded in through the open door.

But that wasn't what Jade was paying attention to. As she unhappily stepped into the dusty room, what caught her attention was the evil pair of glowing red optics that was suddenly focused on her in the dimly lit hangar. The demonic eyes as well as the long metal table located in the center of the room were what did her in. Her legs became jell-o beneath her and her balance went off. Had a giant hand not snatched her off the ground, Jade had no doubt that she would have collapsed to her knees.

However, with sudden vigor and liveliness, Jade struggled in vain against Starscream's grip. She kicked and clawed, despite her chest burning with the hot sensation of pain. "Let go!" she screamed angrily.

Megatron laughed at the insect's request.

However, Starscream seemed less amused. He really hated any physical contact with the creatures. It grossed him out. So one can only imagine what he felt when Jade leaned forward and surprised him by _biting_ his finger! She couldn't do more than peel a small bit of paint off, but it was still horrifying.

"Gah!" he shouted with a surprised tone, releasing his grip on the human.

She fell onto the grand metal table with a shriek. Thankfully, she had only been a few feet above it when she was dropped.

Megatron frowned at his lieutenant.

Upon seeing the unhappy glare of his master, Starscream said, "She bit me!"

"Have you sustained damage?" questioned a falsely worried Megatron. He laughed at his own joke. "You fool, she's an insect! Their bite is nothing, although it pleases me to see that she resorted to such barbarism."

Jade flinched at the sound of the Decepticon's voice and shook under his gaze. She scurried away from him, positioning herself at the far edge of the cold aluminum table as she listened to the Decepticons bicker.

The Seeker growled, having not liked his Lord's cruelty. "It's disgusting, my Lord. She got her bodily fluids all over me."

The human girl snorted. He was acting like she had urinated on him or something. "It's just saliva," she said innocently, knowing now how horrified the Seeker became when touched with such a fluid. "But I'd be happy to bite you again if you grab me like that."

Starscream snarled at her viciously, rushing his face mere inches away from her own. "I _dare_ you to do it again, _human_."

Jade's eyes squinted, no longer so afraid of the weak Seeker. "Challenge accepted."

"Enough!" boomed Megatron, having become bored of the bickering.

Both Seeker and human shut up immediately and focused their attention on the Decepticon commander.

"I didn't bring you here to fuel Starscream's incessant quarrelling, as amusing as that may have been. You, young insect, are here to learn a lesson that all humans and Autobots must know—the Decepticons will always be the more powerful race. Always."

Jade's brows furrowed. "But the Transformers are all one race. Decepticons and Autobots are one in the same! The only difference is the intelligence level." The last part was meant as an insult, and that's exactly how Megatron and Starscream took it.

They growled in unison, but Jade continued. "Autobots are fighting to protect this planet and for the chance to live and be happy. You're just fighting for power, something that will always fail in the end, no matter how strong you think you are. You'll always lose, Megatron. Always," she mocked.

Megatron, much to Jade's surprise, just cackled evilly. "And that's where you're wrong, little cretin. Because once I'm through with you, you'll be begging for death. That's when I win." He grinned frighteningly.

Jade's heart sank at that moment. She was no longer hopeful for her friends to find her in time. She was in the middle of a silent desert, where there would be no one to hear her cries for help. It was just her, Starscream, and the scariest monster the world had yet seen.

"Starscream," said Megatron coolly, extending his clawed fingers threateningly. "Hold her down."


	4. Alive

Ah, another chapter! It's the longest one yet and it's also my favorite. This has a bit of backstory for Jade so you know a little bit about her. Enjoy, and like always, I don't own Transformers. You can thank Hasbro for that.

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><p>Chapter Four – Alive<p>

In some of the movies Jade watched, people claimed that thinking of friends, family, happy memories would take their minds off the any intense physical pain. Jade had already tried that method and it failed miserably against the lightning being shot through her body. Had she been acquiring a paper cut or stubbing her pinky toe, the technique might have been more effective. In her current situation, nothing could distract her from the pain.

The human's cries made Megatron's Spark jump with giddiness. This was exactly what he wanted-the girl to scream futilely for anyone to hear her. Of course, the two Decepticons in the room could hear her quite well, but after twenty minutes of nonstop agony, one of the Transformers shut off his audio receptors.

It was Starscream. While he had no problem admitting that human suffering was quite pleasant for him, the screaming eventually became annoying. Something he _wouldn't_ admit was that every cry the human female made reminded him of his own when Megatron took the time to beat his inferior. Sadly for Starscream, Megatron took the time quite often.

Writhing violently beneath the unyielding grasp of Starscream, whose metallic fingers held her arms above her head and her legs against the table, Jade screamed. She didn't want to. She always hated screaming, especially when it was about something stupid like a bug in her hair or a friend sneaking up behind her. But now she _really_ hated it because it was precisely what Megatron loved and wanted from her.

But she couldn't stop. The pain was unlike anything she had ever felt or imagined. The only way to cope was to scream. The remembering-fond-memories method was a load of scrap.

Megatron was using some sort of tazing weapon on her, stabbing his clawed fingers deeply into her arms to send the shock through, which caused Jade's muscles to react violently. She convulsed painfully as tears streamed down her face. They were as involuntary as the muscle contractions, but they, too, were a way to cope. Of course, screaming and crying weren't helping in the least.

The lightning coursing through her made her feeble and she fought weakly against Starscream's grasp, which only seemed to grow tighter. Through the tears, Jade locked eyes with Starscream's and, without even realizing what she was doing, she called out to him for help.

The Decepticon couldn't hear her because his audios were muted, but when it appeared that the human was speaking directly to him, he curiously unmuted them. What he heard stunned him slightly and he blinked repeatedly. When the Seeker could feel his Lord's eyes on him, as if waiting for some kind of response to the human, he simply snarled at her and squeezed his fingers tighter around her arms and legs.

Megatron laughed, his voice sounding muffled due to only half of his face being there. "No help is coming, young fleshling," he growled, pushing his claws a little further into Jade's forearms and sending a fresh round of electricity into her frail body.

Jade's voice was becoming scratchy and smaller as her shouting dimmed. It wouldn't be long before her body could not take any more. But at that moment, an unexpected voice carried its way to Jade's ears and her erratically-pumping heart skipped a beat.

"My Lord, the human will not survive much more."

Megatron paused for a moment and it was the greatest moment for Jade, because her body slowly relaxed and her mind fell into a sort of calm limbo as the final shocks of electricity flitted through her and dissipated.

"Have you ever wondered, Starscream, that _that's exactly what I want?_" Megatron's voice rumbled with impatience. Primus, he really hated when his subordinate interrupted him!

Starscream flinched, slightly releasing his grip on the human, who remained still and partially awake. "But my Lord, do you not want to enjoy this torture for more than today? If you cease it for now, then the human can recover just enough to endure more tomorrow."

For the first time in a long while, Megatron pondered the possibility of Starscream being correct. Perhaps if the human had time to rebuild her strength, he could enjoy several more sessions with her before her body finally gives in and dies.

Straightening his posture, the Decepticon commander nodded. "How clever of you, Starscream. I suppose a break might do the both of us good." He glanced down at the limp human on the metal table. "I must remove this blood from my hands before it rusts. Starscream, take the weakling back to her hangar."

The Seeker released his grasp on Jade and bowed. "Yes Master."

"Then keep out of my way for the rest of the day. Understood?"

"Yes, Lord Megatron." He bowed again and carefully removed the human off the table. His care was not to further harm the human, but to minimize his exposure to the red fluid that covered half of her arms.

She looked up Starscream with tired eyes and couldn't help but notice his gentler hold on her. Was he minding her wounds? She thought curiously. Jade shook the thought away. For Starscream to care about anything besides his own skin was impossible.

Not unexpectedly, the Seeker let his human prisoner fall a couple of feet to the ground rather than just putting her down nicely. Jade landed in a heap, her legs feeling rubbery and sore. Every part of her was sore. Even her eyes hurt. But the optimist in her kept her on the bright side-she was still alive. A frown formed when she recalled _why_ she was still alive. Starscream.

Painfully, Jade got to her feet and looked up at the Air Commander as he began to walk away through the door. "Why did you do that?" she yelled out to him.

He paused, but didn't turn around. "Do _what?_" he snarled.

"You know what." Damn her voice for being raspy from all the screaming. She sounded even weaker because of it. "Stopping Megatron."

A deep rumble came from Starscream, but just as quickly as it came, it stopped. "I was growing bored. You try standing hunched over for long periods of time and tell me its not uncomfortable."

Despite that not being the answer Jadeance wanted, she couldn't have really expected anything better. With a sigh, she watched as Starscream exited the hangar and closed the door. "Thanks anyway," she said quietly when she knew Starscream wouldn't be able to hear her.

Unbeknownst to her, however, he did. A strange feeling entered his Spark then. He couldn't quite put a finger on it, though. Whatever it was, it was something he had never felt before and hoped he wouldn't feel again.

Jade curled up against the rusty metal pipes along the wall and retrieved her cell phone from inside one of them. It still refused to power up. But despite her need to escape and even though the cell phone may be her only option, she was no longer in such a rush to get out. At least, not at that moment. She didn't want to stick around for another long torture session with Megatron, but right then, all she could think of was the fact that she was still breathing. Her heart was still beating and she was still very much alive. Granted, her rib ached, every inch of her body was sore and there were bloody puncture wounds along her arms that were dirtying her black-and-blue striped tank top, but she was alive.

Leaning back against the refreshingly cold wall of the bay, Jade closed her eyes and let her mind go free. That was when the memories flashed just beneath her closed lids.

o.o.o.o.o.o

"_Jade, help!" cried best friend since second grade, Sam Witwicky, from the receiver end of Jade's cell phone._

_ It was eleven o'clock in the morning and the seventeen-year-old was barely awake yet. She had been making her way down to the kitchen for a cereal breakfast when her phone had rung._

_ She rolled her eyes at Sam as she grabbed a glass bowl from the cupboard, resting the phone on her shoulder. She figured he had simply misplaced his adult magazines or accidentally stepped on one of his mother's prized flowers outside. "What's up, Sam?" she asked, not enthused._

_ "Jade, Jade!"_

_ "What, what?" she mocked._

_ "My car is alive and it's chasing me!"_

_ Jade's brows furrowed. That was an interesting thing to say. Sarcastically, she said, "Well, that sounds like a personal problem, Sam. What can I do to assist?"_

_ "You can stop laughing and help!"_

_ Okay, now he sounded serious. With a new spark in her step, Jade put down her bowl and walked to the back door to put some shoes on. "What do you mean it's alive? Are riding your mom's bike?" she asked upon hearing a little bike bell dinging._

_ "Yes, it's my mom's bike and I mean that my car is alive! I watched it transform a couple nights ago at a junk yard." He was out of breath from pedaling so hard and talking._

_ "Oh yeah, where you got arrested."_

_ "That's not the point, Jade! It transformed and now it's after me!"_

_ "Okay, okay, where are you?" God damnit. Now she had to go rescue Sam from his car and she didn't even have time to eat breakfast. It was the most important meal of the day, too!_

_ "On Main Street heading, uh, west maybe? Towards Burger King!"_

_ "I'm getting in the car now," she said as she clicked off her phone, quickly kissing her spotted young cat, Kiba, who meowed sweetly. "Gotta go save Sam," she added before disappearing out the door towards the car. She hoped her mom, who was still asleep, didn't mind her daughter borrowing her red Ford Focus._

_ Minutes later, Jade found Sam sprawled on the concrete sidewalk in front of Burger King with his bike tossed aside. By the time she had parked and gotten out of the car, Sam was already speeding away again. And much to Jade's surprise, an old black striped yellow Camaro was in pursuit._

_ So it was back in the car she went until she found Mikaela and her moped near the overpass. Jade frowned when she pulled over, stepped out of the car and saw Sam running at her and Mikaela._

_ "GO!" he was shouting, waving his arms._

_ A gasp escaped Jade's lips as a giant bipedal robot-looking thing was running straight at them. "What the f-" began Jade, but was cut off by the throaty engine roar of none other than Sam's Camaro, which spun around and rammed into the metal legs of the creature coming for them._

_ Sam was attempting to get Mikaela into the brightly colored car, but Jade didn't have to be told twice. She jumped right in before Sam and the other girl could, leaving behind the red Focus beneath the overpass._

o.o.o.o.o.o

A smile spread across Jade's lips as she recalled first crawling into a giant Transforming alien. It had been quite a rush to watch the Camaro race the alien cop car with Sam and Mikaela in the front seat, and Jade herself in the back.

So many different thoughts had run rampant through her brain at that moment. Being the science fiction fanatic that she was, it had been a dream come true for the curious human. Robots were her thing and the fact that they had been chased by one was thrilling. And judging by the fact that Sam's Camaro had been driving without help from anyone meant that it, too, was probably a shape-shifter.

But Jade's greatest memory had been when she first met the Autobots alongside Sam and Mikaela.

o.o.o.o.o.o

_Her burgundy-colored hair shown brilliantly in the flash of light created when the large meteor-looking objects fell out of the sky. Jade's heart skipped a beat when she saw them. This was really happening. Aliens were coming to Earth and her life was about to change._

_ The Camaro drove the three humans to a wide alley and allowed them to exit the vehicle as four others drove up to them from both ends of the street. Jade's gaze was fixed on the one directly ahead-a blue and red Peterbilt truck. It was massive, but nothing could be compared to it once it began to transform._

_ All around her, the vehicles began to bend and shape into something entirely different. The bright green ambulance, the large black GMC truck, the smaller silver Pontiac Solstice, and even Sam's Camaro all became something else._

_ The huge Peterbilt, much larger than the other 'bots, kneeled down before Jade and her friends and said in a booming voice, "Are you Samuel James Witwicky, descendant of Archibald Witwicky?"_

_ Jade inhaled sharply. Oh my god, they know your name, she thought, before the large mech introduced himself and the others as Autobots. Almost instantly, Jade was drawn to the medical officer, Ratchet. She had a thing for doctors._

_ It had really been a life-changing moment for everyone. While anyone would be changed the moment they set eyes on a bunch of giant alien robots, Jade's experience was much more personal. She had always wanted to be apart of something greater. She wanted her dreams of science fiction and adventure to become real. Now they were._

_ She was friends with the aliens and was considered their friend as well. Through the battles that took place against the Decepticons, Jade fought bravely alongside them and her friend Sam. But she always knew there would be risk in befriending the Autobots. Risks such as losing a friend, like Jazz who Jade loved listening to when he shared his Decepticon-ass-kicking stories. Or like Optimus and Sam, despite both of them returning from the dead._

_ Risks to herself. Now she was a Decepticon prisoner. That was a problem._

o.o.o.o.o.o

A really big problem. Not just for Jade herself, but for everyone. The Autobots would not rest until she was found, alive or dead, but hopefully the former.

While her absence was hard on everyone, it took its toll more harshly on Sideswipe and Ratchet. Sideswipe had requested to be Jade's guardian right after Prime's death in the forest. She needed someone to look after her, even though she was pretty good at that herself.

Ratchet, however, had been Jade's first 'bot friend and he knew it. He had always had a special place in his Spark for the inquisitive young human who longed to learn more about Transformers. Ratchet had always been the one to share such information and put Jade to work when someone needed repairs. It was a good learning experience for the both of them.

But now both Sideswipe and Ratchet felt responsible for their friend's disappearance. They should have kept their eyes more trained on Jade, but in truth, it wouldn't have mattered. Starscream was too fierce and would have stopped at nothing to please his master and snatch the girl away.

She was now asleep, having curled up her sore, frail body into itself to keep warm against the cold of the desert night. It helped very little, for she shivered quietly. But her exhaustion kept her sleeping soundly until tomorrow, when she'd be summoned for a second round of unpleasantness.


	5. Poison

Another chapter is now here! Sorry for the delay, McRiggs. I wasn't home at all yesterday and I worked all day so there was no time to write! But luckily, the writing bug refuses to stop biting and once I returned home, I immediately began working on this. I'll probably have the next chapter up tomorrow evening. Probably. In the meantime, happy reading!

DISCLAIMER (blahblahblah): Transformers = Hasbro. Jade = mine. Starscream = also mine (jk, I wish.) Don't get confused.

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><p>Chapter Five – Poison<p>

Shrieking, crying, agony. Three things that resulted from a well-performed torture. Smiling sickly with only half a face, Megatron purred with enjoyment. The small human below him wriggled relentlessly in an attempt to relieve herself from the tight grip that was held on her.

But Starscream didn't budge. He watched with unenthused optics as the human called Jade screamed. That was round two of Megatron's little sessions with the girl and so far, the Decepticon commander was enjoying himself quite thoroughly. Starscream, on the other hand, cared little. His audios were again muted and he kept his gaze on the hard floor so he wouldn't have to watch the young female crying out for help. How pathetic, he thought of her.

Like the last time, Megatron was digging his metal talons into Jade's arms, sending painful electric shocks through her weakening body. However, unlike last time, he had a surprise in store to make things a little more interesting.

Once Jade's cries became quieter, signaling the halfway point between alive and dead, the cruel Decepticon removed his sharp claws and sent them instead towards his lieutenant, whose attention was drawn towards the floor.

Starscream was taken by surprise and released his grip on the human who was pinned against the metal table.

With a slight gasp, which sent a lightning bolt of pain through her chest, Jade retreated to the far corner of the tabletop and watched with wide, puffy eyes as the two Decepticons engaged in a one-on-one battle.

"Ah!" cried a shocked Starscream as he attempted to hold his own. "My Master, what are you doing?" Metal grinded painfully against metal.

Megatron's brute strength was winning out against his subordinate as he said, "It is a small price to pay to watch the human suffer." He spoke as if watching human suffering was a luxury. For him, it most certainly was.

With sudden vigor, Starscream pushed off with a defensive snarl and away from his commander to ready himself a bit more the next time Megatron came at him.

However, instead of rushing Starscream for second time or even drawing any weapons, Megatron reached out with fingers extended and swiped the Seeker across the chest. Sparks flew and gears whirred.

Jade had seen enough. Shakily, she grabbed the edge of the table and rolled off. Ordinarily, it would have only stood a couple of feet off the ground, used primarily for working on jet engine pieces. But Megatron had stacked it upon several cinder blocks, adding quite a few more feet to the table. In other words, Jade's landing was rough and she collapsed weakly upon the cool floor. She was back up in an instant, however. As the adrenaline began to pump furiously through her system, Jade wondered if she could be fast enough to at least get out of the hangar. Sadly for her, she wasn't.

"And where do you think you're going?" asked a demonic voice from behind her. Thumping footsteps then echoed across the vast hangar room and they were soon closely behind the girl.

She yelped as a warm metal hand clasped itself around her waist. Struggling was futile, but she did it anyway. Giving up was not an option. However, she didn't attempt to bite the massive mech as she had done to Starscream.

"You've had your fun! Now let me go!" Jade shouted angrily, her voice scratchy and not in the least bit threatening.

"As you wish," joked Megatron, dropping the girl back onto the table.

Her eyes were immediately drawn to Starscream, who had an unpleasant look upon his face as he clutched his chest with one hand. Blue, glittering liquid dripped out between his fingers, each drop sizzling poisonously against the concrete floor.

Jade was confused. What was the point of randomly attacking him? She wondered. The sudden appearance of a hand before her snapped Jade out of thought.

Forcefully, Megatron slammed his palm into Jade, pushing her back down against the table.

She wheezed as the air was momentarily pushed from her lungs. When it rushed back to her, she was grateful.

"Starscream, if you please." Megatron extended his free hand out towards the Air Commander.

Obediently and with his head low, he approached with a glowering expression. Slagger, he thought angrily towards his "master".

Without warning, although one could have easily expected it coming from the Decepticon, Megatron lashed his arm out and caught Starscream behind the neck, dragging him forward until he was standing over the human.

Starscream yelped pitifully, one hand still clutching his bleeding chest, which had begun to pulse painfully.

With little remorse, Megatron removed his clamped hand from Starscream's neck and dug into an exposed part of one of the claw marks near the Seeker's Spark chamber.

The lieutenant growled and hurried back out of Megatron's reach. He glared at his master, but upon receiving a glare back, Starscream's expression calmed and he lowered his head.

With a mad-scientist grin, Megatron said, "Now watch as I experiment on the reaction of Energon in a human's system."

With curious eyes, Starscream did, in fact, watch as Megatron dripped several drops of blue lifeblood into the open wounds on Jade's forearms.

She shook with terror from the act that Megatron was performing. Jade had never been a germ-a-phobe, but the thought of something foreign entering her body was horrifying. Once it touched her skin, Jade cringed. The burning sensation was tolerable, but her body jolted once the Energon entered her puncture wounds. It was an involuntary jump, but it was the first of many. Her body convulsed, not just in anguish, but because of whatever the blue liquid was doing to her.

Obviously, her reaction was both pleasing and curious to Megatron, who removed his clawed hand from atop her body to watch the human more closely.

Starscream was also interested, for he cautiously approached the table with an inquisitive expression.

Then the real wave of torture rolled in. Starting in her arms, fire sped hastily through her body-into her head, down her chest, through her legs. It was too much to even cry about. There was nothing Jade could do but shrivel up into a tight ball and pray for the pain to stop, even if that meant death. Her stomach heaved and threatened to spill its contents. It probably would have had there been any in it to begin with. She barely ate anything in Egypt and she certainly hadn't eaten anything since she'd been kidnapped. That was one thing Jade was grateful for-an empty stomach.

Less than sixty seconds passed before everything began to settle again. The fire in Jade's body cooled, the head-splitting migraine dulled to a repetitive pulsing, her stomach calmed, and Jade was tossed into a semi-conscious state. Not a coma, but not really awake either. Nothing registered in her mind then, aside from the peace her body suddenly felt as the excruciating pain dissipated. She hadn't even realized she was back into her massive hangar bay, having been put there by an injured Starscream, until the girl's mind slowly recovered.

First, the light from the mid-day sun registered to Jade. It hurt her eyes, despite the warm rays being weakened by the dusty windows above. Then, the cold ground she was curled up on. The smell of cement. The feeling of caked-on blood upon her shirt and arms. The tautness of her cheeks from dried tears. The stiffness of her muscles.

The strong beating of her heart.

She sighed. Alas, she wasn't dead, she hadn't died, she was still here. The sigh was a happy one. Despite how bad the pain had been and how bad it still was, Jade was glad to be breathing.

With another sigh, she uncurled herself, which resulted in a whimper as her joints groaned in protest. Whatever the Energon was doing to her, it wasn't pleasant.

Along the floor in front of her was a trail of tiny burn marks, as thought from a cigarette butt, leading back out of the bay. "Heh," Jade laughed. "And Screamer gets his ass handed to him again," she added, remembering the slices across the Seeker's chest. He had been the one to place her back in the hangar and he left a track of Energon burns to prove it. Jade shook her head. It seemed that she wasn't the only one getting fucked with. When a burst of sympathy entered her heart, she frowned. "The fuck do I need to sympathize with him for?" she growled at herself, feeling comforted by hearing a human's voice, even if it was her own. "No sympathy for a Decepticon. Empathy, on the other hand…" Jade joked with herself, but she wasn't really laughing. Starscream seemed to suffer as much as she did. But what kind of person would she be if she began to feel sorry for the slagging piece of scrap metal? Surprisingly for her, she wasn't sure.

Thankfully, it appeared the Seeker had been gentler on Jade when placing her back in her room, for she had no marks on her to prove otherwise, such as the skinned knee that she received during the last good-bye with Starscream when he had dropped her unkindly.

Thoughtfully, Jade cast her gaze upwards and watched blurry blips of white make their slow travel through the sky. It was the first time she'd seen clouds since her visit to Petra during Sam's search for the Matrix of Leadership. My god, she thought. That was only yesterday. How strange it was to have gone through so much in only a matter of twenty-four hours.

The sudden remembrance of Sam brought Jade's mind onto something that could reunite her with him and the Autobots-her broken cell phone. Shakily, she got to her sneakered-feet and found herself peering into one of the long metal tubes along the wall. Her cell phone rested exactly where she had tossed it the day before. For the second time since she'd arrived at the abandoned military facility, a smile formed on Jade's lips. Time to get to work.


	6. Lullaby

LAAAAAAA! *sings horribly* I've finally finished this slagging chapter! It only took forever aka 3 hours (but it's long, so that's why). The gears in my head were spinning crazily and this popped out because of said gear-spinning. We're getting towards the end now; probably a few more chapters left. *cries* I'm really enjoying myself writing this fic. BUT ANYWAY...read on, comment, subscribe, do yer thang, etc.

DISCLAIMER (it's almost as bad as the "favorite color" question on quizilla): No, I DO NOT own Transformers. Hasbro does. However, I do own Jade. I OWN HER. Bee-otch.

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><p>Chapter Six – Lullaby<p>

Already, five hours had passed since Jade remembered that her cell phone was still a possible cry for help. The sun had begun to set, spilling fiery colors across the clouded sky like a painted canvas. Jade had watched the vibrant colors burn above her ceiling windows as she fiddled with the phone at her feet.

She may be somewhat knowledgeable of technological repairs, but she was no expert. In five hours, all Jade had managed to do was jiggle some wires, remove a green microchip and unintentionally crack the front LED screen when she pressed too hard on it while doing the first two things. She still wasn't quite sure what was wrong with it, although she surmised that it had to do with being in Starscream's cockpit during her kidnapping. "The bastard must have shocked it or something," Jade told herself quietly. "Fucking asshole."

But the cell phone was, quite possibly, the girl's last hope of finding help. If she could use basic signaling with it, such as morse code, she could send out an S-O-S to someone, anyone. Sadly, the fact of the matter was that Jade had no idea how to get the damn thing working. If an electromagnetic pulse _was_ the cause for the malfunction, there was a hefty chance she wouldn't get it working again.

"_Fuck!_" she yelled, barely taking into account that Megatron and the Seeker could probably hear her, although the D-Con commander was probably in the middle of giving his subordinate a pounding, since that's all the Seeker seemed to be useful for.

Nothing was going well for her. Every muscle, bone and tendon ached to the core. Her right shoulder was particularly pained, although it acted up on the slightest whim. It had been damaged during the battle at Mission City. Coincidentally, Starscream had been the cause, but that was another story.

Her head hurt. The knuckles on her left hand throbbed. Her cracked rib caused sharp stabs through her chest with every breath. The punctures on her arms-while no longer bleeding-pulsed where the Energon had seeped into them. Her throat was sore from so much screaming. Her stomach was nauseous, although lack of food could have also been the cause. Her mouth was dry and she was beginning to loose her ability to sweat and cool herself off from dehydration. To sum things up, Jade felt physically drained.

Hope was still very much alive within her, but she knew that could only last for so long before even _it_ began to dwindle. Help had to come soon or it was going to be too late. That made Jade feel mentally drained as well, so she tacked that onto her list of drains.

After a long time spent just staring at the dismembered cellular device, Jade slumped down against the wall near the metal pipes. Her mind kept dragging her to dream-like places in an attempt to get the weak human to fall asleep. While sleep sounded wonderful at that moment, Jade knew it wasn't going to come easy, if at all. The phone couldn't be abandoned, she was hungry, and above all else, she was thirsty. A cold glass of ice water entered her thoughts, but Jade knew she'd be happy to have a simple drop.

That was when the hangar bay lit up brilliantly. Jade's flinched, suddenly afraid the Deceptions were coming for her. But when a crackle of thunder followed moments later, her frantic heart immediately calmed down. It started back up once she heard the familiar sound of pitter-patter against the windows.

Rain.

No, water!

Jade was on her feet in an instant, though her balance was shaky and she gave herself a head-rush. Gotta break a window, she thought and searched the ground around her for something to throw. There was her cell phone, but there was no way she was going to toss that.

After several minutes of wandering weakly around the room, Jade came up empty-handed and sighed. There wasn't really a chance of her actually being able to throw something up high enough to break the windows above. But it was still a hope worth having.

"Just my luck," she said, frowning. "Always my luck."

Another flash of lightning and Jade looked up to see something streaking across the sky. Too big to be a bird, Jade's brows wrinkled in confusion. The object looked vaguely familiar. Megatron? She questioned.

Thunder boomed and rattled the windows. Jade swore she could feel it rumble the earth beneath her feet. However, that could have just been Starscream as he stormed into the hangar.

With a start, Jade became frantic. There were cell phone pieces scattered all over the floor and Starscream was sure to find them.

"_Human!_" he snarled viciously.

Jade ran back to the wall and dove into one of the long metallic tubes lying there.

"It's just you and me now."

Judging by his tone, Jade assumed he had a sick smile on his face. Her heart was racing faster than a wild stallion, but with a few moments of deep breathing, it quieted down. "What do you mean it's just us?" she asked when her strength returned.

"Lord Megatron has taken some time off for a few hours. He left me in charge of babysitting you." The Seeker startled the human when his metal face appeared at one end of the tube.

Jade yelped and scooted out. She eyed the scarring marks across the Decepticon's chest and said, "Looks like I'm not the only who has issues with him."

Starscream growled and unconsciously touched his sore wounds. They were already healing, but they still hurt like a glitch. "Do not compare me to you, fleshling!" His hand went back, as thought about to smack the human stepping back from him. However, his fist simply closed and he slowly lowered it. It would be a waste of time anyway.

Sighing heavily, Jade swallowed. Damn, she needed water. Without even realizing it, her eyes quickly went up to the windows above and then back to Starscream, who followed her gaze upwards.

He chuckled. "Thirsty, are we?"

With a growl, Jade retaliated. "Fuck you."

Starscream simply continued laughing. Then his attention was caught by the pieces of something scattered along the back wall of the hangar. "What are you doing?" he asked seriously, all laughing aside.

Eyes suddenly wide, Jade backed up. "Nothing."

"_Lier!_ What are you doing?" he asked again, more forcefully.

"It doesn't matter because it doesn't work anyway!" Jade didn't mean to shout, but she was pissed about the cell not functioning and pissed that she hadn't hid the pieces from the Decepticon. Of course, she had no warning of his arrival. The blasted D-Con snuck in during a thunderclap.

Starscream said something in Cybertronian and stepped over the human to get to the scattered phone bits. With a sudden grin back on his face, he looked over his shoulder at Jade. Then his foot came down heavily and all parts of the phone were obliterated.

Jade knew it was coming and as much as she wanted to scream and curse and fight, she held her tongue and just stood there, wavering slightly from tiredness.

"Oops," said the Seeker as he turned back to the human captive. "My bad."

"Thanks. You saved me the time of doing that myself. The damn thing wasn't going to work anyway." Jade spoke in hopes of pissing off Starscream by making him believe he had actually helped her out.

Not surprisingly, it had worked. "Well now there's no chance at all for you, is there?"

Jade glared.

"Too bad. It would have been a real pleasure destroying more of your Autobot friends."

She knew he was speaking of the twins—Skids and Mudflap. This was his way of provoking her to do something she'd regret. It wasn't going to work.

"Not even the Autobots could tolerate those lousy pieces of scrap. How was it that _you_ could?" Starscream was slowly making a circle around Jade as he spoke.

"I've got a bigger heart than most, so that's why. They were annoying, but then so are you. And you don't see me pulling my hair out while you're around, do you?" she said sarcastically.

Starscream wasn't amused.

"But who are you to brag about killing the Autobots? Your ass got handed to you by Prime back in that forest. I bet Megatron beat the shit out of you then, too. He screws with you a lot, doesn't he?"

That struck a chord. In an instant, Starscream rushed Jade, causing her to drop to the ground. His mind was on fire and he was about to do something terrible, but before he could end the human, she spoke up.

"I know a way to get back at him!" she cried, trembling. When the Seeker didn't move, she repeated, "I know how to get back at Megatron."

"Do you now?" Starscream said, backing up. "I'm listening."

Jade was back on her feet. Her body was on the verge of crumbling upon the cold concrete, still and weakened by lack of fluids and food and pained by the Energon still coursing through her system. But she refused to let herself drop. Maybe if she remained strong for a little while longer, she could strike a deal with the Air Commander before her. It was a long shot, but she had to try. That was all she could do then-try. "And I'd be happy to tell just as soon as you do something for me."

Starscream laughed. "A favor? For _you_? Ha! I can find my own way to get back at the old fool!"

"Fine! Good luck with that then." And Jade turned her back on Starscream. She made her way back to her phone and began picking up the tiny, crushed pieces.

Very few tense moments passed before Starscream cracked. He wanted to see if perhaps this human had a clever way of ridding Megatron or the very least, pissing him off. He didn't say a word, but simply growled unhappily.

Jade looked back. "Does that mean you want to hear what I have to say?"

Another growl.

"Break that window," she said simply as she dropped the cell chunks and pointed up. "That's all you have to do. Break it and I'll tell you how to get even with Megatron."

"What a stupid request."

"Do it or it'll be the silent treatment."

"Stupid human," grumbled the Seeker as he raised his arm up and fired a couple rounds of his projectile weapon at the above windows.

Jade inhaled sharply as they exploded into thousands of small fragments that fell towards the ground. They shattered in every direction upon impact. Instantly, rain began to fall into the hangar room. Quicker than ever, Jade stepped over the glass shards, her mouth agape. Once the cool, refreshing liquid touched her tongue, her body twitched with excitement. It trembled as drops dribbled down her throat, cooling it and soothing the pain away. Suddenly, luck seemed a little more on her side.

A smile as big as the Grand Canyon crossed Jade's lips and she closed her eyes happily. Water splashed over them and down her neck. It washed the crusted blood off her arms and rinsed away the dust from her curly locks that rested on her shoulders. Had there been enough water in her body, Jade would have cried, but even her tear ducts were dried out.

Nearly five minutes of nonstop drinking went by until Jade's thirst was finally quenched. Her stomach spoke out gladly, happy that it finally had something in it. Now that her body had been slightly re-energized, Jade felt a bit of life flowing back into her.

"Thank you," she said gratefully and sincerely, a little out of breath from all the excitement and from that fact that she barely took time to breathe during those five minutes of gulping down water.

"Now tell me your idea. I'm sure it's going to, oh, how would you humans say it? Suck? But I'll let you humor me anyway."

"Whatever," she remarked. "My plan's kinda simple. You don't want Megatron to win, right? _You_ want to win."

Starscream eyed the human carelessly but with interest. "Right."

"Then I suggest you do exactly what Megatron doesn't want you to do."

The Seeker blinked.

"Calm down, Screamer. Your enthusiasm is too much." Jade's sarcasm laced her words like a poison.

"Do _not_ call me 'Screamer'!" asserted Starscream viciously. He hated nicknames.

Jade took a small step away from the Air Commander. She wanted to let him know she wasn't trying to threaten him or something, but she also wanted to stay under the rain-produced waterfall that was washing down her body and drenching her clothes. "Woah, calm down. Sorry." Sorry? She asked herself? _Sorry?_ Who apologizes to a Decepticon? She inwardly smacked herself.

Starscream growled as he thought for a moment. How simple an idea! Do the opposite of what Megatron wants of him and that'll be that! Right? Sort of. "What exactly would be against what Megatron wants?"

"Er, well, he wants to kill me in an effort to prove to the Autobots that Decepticons will always be better."

The Seeker nodded. Damn straight the Decepticons were better! He mused.

"The opposite of killing me is…" she paused, motioning for Starscream to answer.

He laughed. "You want me to let you escape? Haha! You're sadly mistaken, _human_."

Jade frowned. "You wanted my idea; I gave it to you. By letting me go, Megatron will be pissed and any ounce of happiness in his cold, little Spark will be crushed. If you want old Megs to be a happy camper, then by all means, don't do anything. But if you're serious about getting back at him, maybe you should consider what I said." She took another drink to avert her eyes from the terrifyingly calm Decepticon before her. "It'll be the small things like this that matter when you're in charge."

He simply eyed Jade. In charge, huh? He liked how that sounded. In some strange way, her idea was relatively good. Ridiculously simple, but good. By being defiant, Starscream wins and Megatron looses. Starscream may get an aft-whooping because of it-Primus, he hated those aft-whoopings-but he wouldn't be obeying his "master". He obeyed no one.

"Fine."

Jade choked on a mouthful of water upon hearing the simple word. She pulled her head forward, away from the waterfall, and asked, "What?"

"Fine. Don't think that I'm doing this to help _you_ because I'm not! This is for me and only me. You're just a pawn in my game."

A very happy pawn. "You're really going to let me go?"

Starscream rolled his red optics and turned away.

"Wait!" cried Jade from behind him. She hurried up to the Decepticon and stepped in front of him, bringing the large mech to a halt. "Where are you going? What about the whole setting me free thing?" Panic flooded her voice.

"I can't let you escape while Megatron is gone. The fault will be less on me if he is here when you get away. Understand, fleshling?"

Jade did and she nodded. God, she just wanted out of there. Patience, she told herself. While it was foolish to trust a bad guy, Jade knew it was probably her only choice now that her phone was out of the equation.

"Now move," snarled Starscream. "There is something I must do if you want your escape to be anywhere near successful." Then he scooched the human out of his path with a shove from his foot.

She fell backwards and watched the Seeker disappear behind the hangar door, leaving her to wonder about what his last words meant. Her mind was racing all over the possible outcomes of her current situation. Would Starscream hold up his end and actually let her free? How would he even go about doing so? If he did, then where would Jade go? She was in the middle of a desert. Unless Starscream was going to do something to alert the Autobots of their presence. Maybe that's what he was talking about, she wondered.

With her strength already beginning to fade, Jade rose and headed back over to the falling rain. She took a final sip and then curled up inside a metal tube, listening to the thunder as she fell asleep to its lullaby.

Unbeknownst to neither Jade nor the Seeker, a pair of blazing red optics watched from atop the broken ceiling windows.

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><p>Oooooh! Cliffhanger! *twiddle thumbs* Whatever could be next? FIND OUT TOMORROW, MY FELLOW READERS!<p> 


	7. The Small Things

So who do those beady red eyes belong to? Read on to find out! :D

DISCLAIMER: Transformers belong to Hasbro. HOW MANY TIMES MUST I SAY IT?

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><p>Chapter Seven – The Small Things<p>

A small pair of crimson eyes watched Starscream exit the hangar bay, leaving the human girl alone in her prison. The small creature that the optics belonged to snickered quietly and an evil, accented voice muttered, "Won't Megatron be pleased?" Then it scurried away through the rain and disappeared.

Jade had only been asleep for a couple of hours - having taken two hours just to fall asleep from being too anxious for the morning to come when she may or may not be released - when a loud crash woke her with a start. It was nearly pitch-black in her room, save for the small bit of light coming in from under the door, created by the Decepticons' lights. She hurried out of her tube and slowly stood up in the darkness. Much to her relief, her aching body had begun to make quick repairs on itself now that it had been rejuvenated with water. Still, her chest pained her with every breath. After all, a broken rib wasn't going to heal overnight.

The crashing continued beyond Jade's door and she hastily made her way over to it, pressing her ear against the partially rusted metal.

"Did you think I was a fool? Did you honestly believe I would let you be here alone while I was gone?" screamed Megatron as another crash issued from the other side.

A panicked, frightened voice sounded and Jade frowned. Starscream was in deep shit.

"Ah, my Lord. Won't you please let me, uh, explain?"

"Explain? Oh, I don't think that's necessary. I've heard quite enough."

Jade cringed when she heard metal grinding against metal. Then the floor rumbled as something large hit it. She assumed it was Starscream. Damn it, she wanted to know what the hell was going on and what Megatron was so unhappy about. Had he figured out her plans with the Seeker? A shudder ran down her spine at the thought. She nervously looked down at her feet, not knowing what exactly she should focus on, and remembered that the door was raised a couple of inches off the ground, just enough space to see underneath it. Jade dropped to her stomach and was not surprised to see Starscream's crumpled form laying prone on the concrete at the other end of the building. Alongside him was Megatron. Something tiny was also beside the Air Commander. It skittered like a spider in the shadows around the fallen Decepticon who, at this point, was barely moving.

"You disappoint me, Starscream," uttered Megatron, giving his lieutenant one final kick to the side.

Starcream groaned.

"Always so weak. Unlike the Doctor who serves me endlessly." The Decepticon commander turned his back to Starscream and looked towards Jade's door.

She gasped as he began to make his way over to her.

"Scalpel, join me and watch as I rip this disgusting insect apart, piece by piece."

The snitching little slag chortled. "My pleasure, Master."

Terrified tears dribbled down Jade's cheeks. Her tear ducts had obviously replenished themselves, but tears were useless in a situation like this one. They only showed weakness and they certainly weren't going to save the girl's skin, which was about to be peeled off her very bones.

She stumbled in the dark back to her hiding space in the tubes and trembled. Her only hope of escaping was lying out there in the main hangar, probably half-dead. So this was it. She was going to die and she'd never even gotten the chance to say good-bye to her friends. She never even said bye to her young feline companion, Kiba. A part of her wanted to fight, to try and do something about her current predicament, but another part wanted Jade to just be at peace and wait for the end to come.

That was when she decided that laying down and giving in was not how she was going to leave this world. With sudden liveliness, Jade left the comforting confines of her tube just as Megatron whipped open the door, flooding the room with dim light.

For a moment, Jade remained strong, but as time slowly ticked by with the massive mech just watching her cruelly, Jade's knees began to shake. The little spidery creature beside Megatron didn't help her wavering strength in the least.

It eyed her sickeningly as it approached, its multiple slender legs carrying its small body, just as a venomous spider would.

"Scalpel!" shouted Megatron assertively. "_I_ will do the honors of first blood." Then he strode towards the terrified human, each step drawing her closer to death.

Strength fled her then. Maybe she'd run and try to escape out of the hangar, or maybe she'd stay put. Either way, this really was the end. Her breaths became calm and even. Her heart quieted its incessantly loud beating. She thought of her friends and how lucky she was to have had them. They had saved her and they didn't even know it. Saved her from her boring high school life that had used to be filled with abusive name-calling and bullying towards her, but was now filled with people who cared and would never hurt her, who never let her hurt herself again. That was enough to keep Jade happy in her final moments.

But she still wished she could have had one last ride on Ratchet's tall shoulder, to watch and learn from him as he repaired other Autobots. She wished she could have had one last laugh with Sam as they cracked jokes about each other's parents. And damnit, she really wanted to lay with her cat for a final time, feel the brown, spotted feline purr against her. And what would her mother think?

Tears spilled then. Life was short and Jade was about to figure that out the hard way. But she'd hold on for as long as she could so that way she could look into Megatron's optics and prove to him that he would never win. She'd show him the strength in her, the fire, that all humans and Autobots have. Decepticons would never be the better faction. Never.

Megatron growled happily as he drew back his terrifying claws, which were ready to descend upon the weak fleshling below.

Jade figured her instincts and reflexes would get her the hell out of the way of those sharp talons, but before she could even flinched, a noise outside boomed.

The Decepticon prepared to strike, but held his attack off momentarily upon hearing something beyond the hangar building.

With muscles tensed, Jade remained silent and still. Something moved beyond Megatron and her blue eyes found Starscream attempting to stand up.

"Ah," said Megatron, figuring out what his human captive was eyeing. "Is the weakling Seeker awake?" He turned back to confirm it.

Jade eyed Starscream, but her mind was focused on the sound outside. It was so familiar, but she couldn't figure out why!

Then it hit her like a brick to the face. She heard it back in Egypt, when the massive transport plane was approaching the ancient ruins to drop off NEST soldiers and the body of Optimus Prime. Jade remembered the sound of the plane clearly. And what she was hearing now was definitely the same thing.

Since the chances of such an aircraft taking a leisurely fly around the Nevada desert were very slim, it could only mean one thing—help was coming.

Starscream, Jade thought. He had signaled them somehow and alerted them to their presence. She knew it. This was his way of getting back at old Megatron. It was the small things, after all.

"Starscream!" she shouted, causing Megatron to glare down at her angrily.

"Silence, _fleshling!_" The large bot whipped his claws at the human, but was too slow, for she ducked and rolled away from him.

Jade was back on her feet in an instant as the noise outside drew closer. "It's the small things, remember?" Her scratchy voice eased up a little bit to allow the girl's words to flow more strongly. "_Remember?_" She had to react more quickly this time to avoid another swat from an extremely impatient Megatron.

Even the small insect-like Decepticon was trying to bring her down, swiping at her ankles and chasing her around like a horny chiwawa.

"Get the fuck off!" Jade yelled and kicked it away from her. It landed with a _thunk_ against the nearest wall. Sparks flew, meaning she had damaged or even killed it. Now the adrenaline was pumping as she dodged yet another blow from Megatron as she weaved in between his legs.

He tried stepping on her, but failed again. He roared impatiently. "_Maggot!_"

Jade made her way towards Starscream, who was now back on his feet. She didn't make it passed the door, for a tight grip laced itself around her midsection.

"I can't wait to tear you apart," declared Megatron. "Piece by-"

An explosion went off right beside Jade as a missile impacted Megatron's shoulder. He grunted and released her unwillingly.

The fall would have injured Jade substantially had Megatron's leg not been there to break it. Jade latched onto it like a spider money and held on as the older Decepticon stumbled back. Her grip slipped, however, and she dropped to the floor, but this time it was from a much lower height of a few feet. Once she hit the ground, she scrambled out of the way as the two mechs began to duel, her ears ringing painfully.

Another missile went off, but missed Megatron, exploding into the wall behind him and causing a couple of metal pipes to roll off the pile. A breeze suddenly entered the room and Jade looked around, confused, as she pressed herself against a wall. The source was close and it was a short time later that Jade realized it was coming from behind the stacked tubes. They were strategically placed, probably by Megatron, to prevent the human from finding the vent that led to the outside world.

However, there were still several massive metal pipes remaining, blocking most of the shaft. But Jade's frame was slim and she crawled up and over the last metallic tubes and squeezed through the uncovered vent between the wall and the highest pipe. She wasn't yet out of the woods, though.

While Starscream had been too busy to see Jade disappear into the vent, Megatron was not. With one hand firing upon his unruly subordinate, he sent a cannon blast her way. The blue energy splashed across the pipes in a brilliant, flashing explosion that lit the room, as well as Jade's path through the dark tunnel.

Jade could feel her back growing hotter as the projected energy blast entered the vent. The heat was damn near unbearable and Jade feared that she might not make it out in time. After all, she was clueless about where she was going. It had become dark in the tunnel again once Megatron's explosion dissipated, but the heat was still very much there.

A very dim light up ahead made Jade's crawling quicken as she drew closer to the coolness outside. Finally and with a nervous laugh, Jade reached the vent covering that separated her from the dark desert beyond. Luckily, the heat from the explosion was cooled when pitted against the desert temperatures beyond and Jade quickly went to work on the metal grate.

It was rusted and old and while it was still made out of steel, Jade kicked out most of the screws holding it in, allowing her to bend the metal enough to escape.

She came out head first and landed uncomfortably upon the dusty, cracked ground of Nevada. But once she was on her feet, she didn't hesitate to get the hell out of there. Jade ran speedily towards the light, which grew brighter and brighter with every passing second.

"Please, please, please," she huffed pleadingly, praying for the miracle that was the Autobots. "Let it be them."

Behind her, she could still hear the Decepticons battling it out, but that quickly changed when Jade heard windows shattering. Taking a quick glance over her shoulder, she watched a jet burst out of the building and disappear up into the black clouds above. Another, more alien jet, followed it out but flew off in another direction.

In the end, Starscream would come back begging for mercy from Megatron, who, knowing full well how helpful it could be to have a Seeker in his midst, would just barely welcome him back. A few good head smacks and some aft-whoopings would set the Air Commander in his place, of course.

Jade's pupils constricted as the lights closed in on her position. If they were Autobots, then her life would be saved. But if they were Decepticons…


	8. Convoy

So sorry about the delay! While it's practically microscopic, I do have a social life and it called to me this weekend. But I'm back home and happy to upload the 8th chapter to this insane fic. I'm thinking one more chapter and it'll be done! Which is actually kinda sad. Alas, the other chapter won't be up probably til Tuesday, so just be patient my readers. Anyway, onto more important stuffs...like the story!

Oh wait. Almost forgot. DISCLAIMER: Transformers belong to Hasbro. End of line.

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><p>Chapter Eight - Convoy<p>

Above, Jade watched a massive aircraft disappear into the night sky. It must have dropped off the vehicles here in the desert, the girl figured. Chances were, the Autobots were the ones to have landed, but Jade didn't know what kind of planes the Decepticons could transform into. For all she knew, the D-Cons were playing her.

She threw her tanned hand up beyond her eyes in an attempt to shade them from the increasing lights ahead. The pinpoints were in pairs, like headlights, and as they drew closer, Jade slowed down significantly, eventually coming to a stop. Her panted breaths were shaky. Suddenly, the hope for Autobots was disappearing with the oncoming vehicles. Jade threw her gear in reverse and began backing up, slowly at first, but then picking up pace.

The rev of engines filled her ears and as the sound grew louder, Jade almost whipped around to start a full on sprint back into the hangar. But before her sore legs could kick into action, one engine rumbled stood out from the rest and held Jadeance in her tracks. She eyed the many sets of headlights approaching, squinting in an attempt to see whom they belonged to.

An instant later, something massive pulled up through the middle and stopped only meters away from the frail human. In the blindly bright light from the other the vehicles that had all now begun to stop, Jade could see the familiar colors of red and blue. But only when the large truck's own headlights flicked off did she know for certain who it was parked before her.

Instantly, Jade cried. Hydrated tears flowed freely down her cheeks and she didn't stop them. It felt surprisingly good to just let herself collapse onto her knees into the dust-covered desert floor and sob. No words fell from her lips, not even a smile crossed them. From all the shit that had happened to her in such a short period of time, Jade had a right to be relieved beyond anything she'd ever felt and she had a right to be upset as well for being such a victim.

The Peterbilt before her shifted and transformed into a kneeling Optimus Prime, who spoke with gentle, kind words to his human companion below. "You're safe, Jadeance. We are here." He brought a warm, metal finger to her face and lifted her chin.

Their eyes met and Jade was quick to get on her feet and embrace Prime's face. That was the first time she had seen anyone worth smiling about.

"Jade!" Another familiar voice that brought butterflies into the girl's heart. It was the same voice that kept her searching for help while she was being abducted by Starscream. And here it was again.

"Sam," whispered a tearful Jade, stepping back from Optimus who continued to kneel in front of her. "SAM!" she screamed and hurried into the bright headlights of the other various vehicles.

Someone smacked into her to her right and she spun around quickly to find herself face to face with Sam Witwicky. The hug that preceded their encounter was tighter than anything Jade had ever given. It left her breathless and happy, not to mention in pain from her damaged rib, but it was nothing she couldn't tolerate.

"I didn't know…I didn't know if you would come," Jade chocked through more tears as she spoke into her best friend's ear.

"I'm here. Everybody's hear," he whispered back.

After several moments, Jade withdrew from the embrace and took a step back. "No Mikaela?" she asked, ashamed at how relieved she was to _not_ see the attractive girlfriend.

"Nah. She stayed with my parents. You know, to keep them from freaking out on the way home."

Jade laughed.

Then Sam saw the blood. "Your arms," he said worriedly.

Jade eyed her red wounds and shrugged. "I'm okay. Really," she added, noting Sam's disbelieving expression.

Her eyes then scanned her surrounding and suddenly, everything became clearer. She could see NEST military officers stepping out of a black truck as well as a yellow ambulance, weapons in hand to fend off irritating Decepticons as they jogged over to Jade.

Once their human passengers were out, everything transformed. Bumblebee, Ratchet, Sideswipe, and Ironhide were all clearly visible now.

No words could describe the amount of joy fluttering inside Jade.

"Did you think we forgot about you, Jade?" asked Sideswipe as he weaved between the soldiers, making his way up to his human friend.

"Never," she replied. She hissed in pain as a soldier touched her arm.

"Lacerations to both forearms," said a brown-uniformed soldier.

"Let me have a look." Ratchet appeared beside Sideswipe and squatted down. "Jade, I'm going to scan you for further injuries."

Jade frowned. "Ratchet, no scan. I said I'm fine."

Prime spoke up them. "Please Jade, allow Ratchet to do his job. It's only a precaution." He looked over to the soldiers then and nodded. Most of them, led by Lennox, hurried off towards the hangar to establish its safety.

Ironhide followed closely behind them.

"No major Energon signatures," assured Prime. "Only a faint one inside and another one…" Optimus paused and looked down at Jade, whose scan from Ratchet's red beam was nearly complete.

"What?" she asked the Autobot leader as he cocked his head at her.

"There is an Energon reading coming from you."

"No doubt about that," confirmed Ratchet. "She has a heavy amount of it flowing through her veins as we speak."

Prime frowned. "How does something like that happen?"

His question was open, but Jade answered. "Megatron…he dripped some into the cuts on my arms." She hesitated, clearly recalling the horrendous event.

The medical officer beside her began to gauze her wounds, take her pulse and pressure and once he was finished, he said, "She's fine, Optimus. Her blood pressure's low, but it's just from hunger. Other than that, she's okay."

Prime nodded.

"So what does that mean?" It was Sam who spoke out that time, now even more worried for his friend now that there was Energon in her.

"Well," began Ratchet, "I couldn't really say. I've never come across such a thing."

Sideswipe looked at the medic. "But she'll be fine, right?"

Ratchet shrugged. "I really don't know. As of now, her vitals are stable. She has a broken rib, lower left side, but no other major injuries."

Sighing, Jade repeated, "I'm fine. My head's pounding and I'm starving, but I'm fine. Can we please just go home?" She looked at Ratchet and the medic who had just tended to her, asking for the okay from the doctors.

"Colonel Lennox is returning with his men now. Then we will embark on our journey home.

Home. Jade nodded at the idea of going there. She hadn't realized how much she missed it and those in it—her mother and Kiba, the cat.

Once Lennox was back, he gave a quick briefing. "The place is empty, Optimus."

"Yeah, all we found was this. I think it's still alive, too." Epps out a crushed bug-looking Transformer.

Jade's eyes widened. "Can I see that, Epps?"

The darker man hesitated.

"Please? It can't hurt anyone anyway," she said, smiling as Epps finally let her have it for a moment. In the blink of an eye, Jade threw the tiny Decepticon to the ground at her feet and began stomping on it.

No one tried to stop her. They just looked at her and allowed her to destroy the veil creature.

It sputtered and sparked and finally went dim as death took over the little Scalpel. One more stomp and it was game-over.

Jade was satisfied. "Can we leave now?"

Lennox smiled and nodded. "Alright, lets move out!" His men obeyed and most hurried back into a vehicle-mode Ironhide. Some waited for Ratchet, who was the humans' other ride.

Bumblebee entered disguise mode as well and clicked open his doors for Sam and Jade.

"Hey Sam," asked Jade suddenly. "Is it alright if I ride with Ratchet?"

Sideswipe blinked at the question directed towards Sam. The human he was meant to protect wanted to ride with another 'bot. It hurt a little, but he remembered that Ratchet was Jade's first Autobot companion. She was hurting, both physically and mentally, and needed that friend, so Swipe accepted her decision. Even though it made his gears whir with slight jealousy.

Stunned, but understanding, Sam grinned. "Anything you want, Jade. The choice is yours."

With her own smile, Jade looked up at Ratchet.

He laughed slightly. "What's so special about _my_ ride?"

"Please?"

The medic sighed. "Alright." His friend had been through a lot, after all. How could he possibly deny her a ride? So he shifted back into an ambulance, allowing the rest of the soldiers, including Lennox and a medic, into the back of the vehicle.

Jade hoped into the front passenger seat and buckled in, taking care not to agitate her rib, and observed Optimus through the windshield.

"Autobots," he cried, "Roll out!"

And they did, with the return of a beloved passenger—Jadeance.


	9. The End?

Finally, the FINAL CHAPTER! Again, sorry about the hold-up. I work more hours now at my wildlife rehabbing job and it tires me out. At least Ratchet is proud of me! Anyway, I'm happy/sad to say that this fic is now officially over, after this chapter of course. But fear not! This story was sorta the missing piece for my OC so you will see more Starscream and Jade later, when I decide to post up more stuff. Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: No, Transformers do not belong to me. They're Hasbro's property. Damn you, Hasbro. DAMN YOU TO HELL!

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><p>Chapter Nine – The End?<p>

They stood face-to-face in the driveway, letting the lights from the front porch and vehicles behind them to illuminate their expressions. Nothing was said and the only sounds in the night were the constant chirping of crickets and the comforting rumble of Autobot engines.

But after moments of stunned silence, Jade wrapped her stiff arms around her mother and sobbed into her shoulder.

Her mom was quick to follow suit.

They remained that way for a long time before Jade finally pulled away, showing her mother the massive grin on her face.

Mom wasn't smiling. "I thought you were…dead," she muttered through tears. "I didn't think my baby girl was going to come home."

"I'm home now."

"That's not the point, Jade!" she whispered unhappily so that the people behind her daughter wouldn't hear. "Do you know what it does to me to see you drive off with them?"

Jade knew exactly who she was talking about. She sighed heavily, forgetting about her broken rib as she inhaled. A flinch flitted across her face but immediately vanished. "The Autobots saved me. Don't blame them for everything I do with Sam. We saved the world, Mom. We saved the whole world."

After a few hesitant seconds, Ms Bryant said, "I knew you'd do great things, Jade." She joined in with Jade's smile.

The nineteen-year-old was finally home. After thirty-six hours of being locked up in an old hangar with nothing but a corner to piss in, Jade was finally back in the comfort of those who loved and cared about her.

Lennox told they were going to the hospital, but Jade's refusal eventually swayed him to bring her home.

Her joints would be sore for while, Ratchet had told her on the ride there, and the pain in her shoulder from a previous injury might take a little longer to recover. The Energon within her system would, eventually, breakdown until nothing was left. When that would be exactly was beyond the medic's guess.

For the first time in days, Jade wasn't hungry. At first, when Colonel Lennox ordered the girl to eat something from the Subway they came across during their trip, Jade refused. The thought of food made her weak stomach flip. But once she had a whiff of the sandwich, the foot-long was demolished in mere minutes.

Now all that was left was seeing her spotted feline.

Jadeance turned to those behind her and gave Sam and Lennox a hug for each of them. There was no way she could say _thank you_ enough times, so she didn't try. Everyone knew she was glad to be home and safe.

However, she did thank Optimus Prime.

"We followed a Decepticon energy signature and found you," he said through his radio. "While I am appreciative of your kindness, Jade, thank the one who gave away your position."

Screamer, Jade mused. Guess that'll be our little secret.

Once the hugs and handshakes were finished, once a few thank-god-it's-over laughs had been made, everyone cleared out. Sam was reluctant to do so, but Jade finally convinced him that she'd be fine tonight, especially with Sideswipe in the garage beside the house.

"Keep an eye on her, Sides," Sam said.

The silver Corvette Stingray rumbled loudly, which meant of course he would.

"Thanks, Swipe, but don't be too protective. I don't want you crashing through the garage, cannons blazing, shooting at my house." Jade cocked a brow at Sam.

"Hm, that situation sounds familiar." He turned to glare at Bee, who whined in return. "So are you sure you don't want Bee and I to, I don't know, camp out here tonight?"

Jade's eyes bugged. "No, Sam! I'd be paranoid of being watched. It's bad enough I already have that now."

"Well, if you need anything…"

"I know. I'll call you, but not until I sleep for a good twenty-four hours first."

"You would, too!" joked Sam. "Fine. See you whenever you decide to wake up then."

Jade nodded and gave her friend one last hug before they split. Her mom guided her into the house saying,

"Someone's been missing you in here, and I don't mean me."

A fuzzy tan creature greeted Jade as she walked through the door. She scooped it up and molested it with tearful kisses. "Hi, Kiba," she whispered, squeezing her tightly with hugs.

The young cat mewed and fought very little to escape. Instead, the Bengal-looking feline purred against Jade as the human closed door behind them.

"I'll go fix you up something to eat," Ms Bryant said happily and disappeared into the kitchen.

While not actually hungry, Jade loved the thought of having a mom-cooked meal. Her stomach growled with anticipation.

With her cat in her arms, Jade smiled at the situation she currently found herself in. She was home. _Her_ home. It wasn't a hangar where she waited for Starscream to fetch her for Megatron's sick torturing sessions. It wasn't the dry, monotonous Nevada desert. It was home. While she wasn't quite free of the hangar incident yet - Lennox would have to brief her as soon as she was up to it - Jade wasn't concerned.

As the door shut behind her, Kiba's perceptive ears swiveled at the sound of something outside. Unbeknownst to her, it was an approaching F-22 Raptor. It passed overhead and faded away into the night, leaving no evidence of it ever being there.


End file.
